https://www.illinoispolicy.org/three-peat-illinois-pension-system-last-place-for-3rd-year-in-a-row/
Excerpts:
Low funding ratios mean less certainty because it means the state does not have the money to pay out what it promised. If liabilities continue to grow faster than assets, this funding ratio shrinks.
But even before insolvency hits, low funding ratios still hurt the state. Just like failing to pay off credit card debt, “putting off” until later is the biggest reason behind Illinois’ bottom-of-the-nation credit rating, according to Moody’s.
This low credit rating leads to higher borrowing costs and less appeal for people to stay here, let alone to make Illinois their home when compared to nearby states. The amount needed to go to this debt is also why Illinoisans pay so much more in taxes but get less in services to make them feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.
The four state-managed pension plans saw virtually no change in their debt in fiscal year 2025, moving from $143.7 billion in debt to $143.5 billion, despite authorizing over $11.2 billion to fund these systems. While the Governor’s office called this evidence of “steady progress,” Illinois’ continued place at the bottom of national rankings is no cause for celebration.
The improvement in the state’s pension debt can be attributed to better-than-expected market returns. Just as the market can cause improvement in one year, those gains can vanish the next year.
The bottom of the article has ways to improve funding. Don’t count on any of them happening.
Pritzkers big plan to make the pensions solvant is to repeal the modest tier 2 reforms passed by apparently moderate democratic governor Pat Quinn, which of course will make it more unfunded. Somehow, increasing benefits and lowering the retirement age equals less pension debt according to Pritzker. Of course, this is based on the lie that tier 2 retirees might not make enough pension income to surpass that which they’d otherwise get from social security, which is laughable, because the average monthly SS benefit is $2,000. Certainly, a highly paid Illinois teacher (#13 nationally at avg of $75k) will make more than $24,000 a year in pension benefits when they retire under tier 2.
But he won’t let facts take away his and the unions fear mongering.
He also plans to redirect debt payments to the fund when the debt is paid off in 2030 and 2033… Aka when he isn’t governor anymore. Great promise there bucko!
Maybe if the pension wasn’t paying $17,000 a monthly to the top 5% like former D87 Superintendent Barry Riley, the pension system wouldn’t be so much in debt already.
Read Cook County and state pushing to use advertising and marketing revenue and other “revenue” sources to fill the gap.
Sounds shady.$$$
If it quacks like a duck . . .